


Learning is Never Wasted

by Bluewolf458



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-22
Updated: 2013-10-22
Packaged: 2017-12-30 04:27:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1014078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/pseuds/Bluewolf458
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blair explains something to Jim</p>
            </blockquote>





	Learning is Never Wasted

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Sentinel Thursday

"Weird," Blair said, his attention on his laptop.

"What is?" Jim asked.

Blair glanced up. "Well, I often use discussion in class as a means of exchanging ideas, and in one of my classes today the subject of majority versus plurality came up."

Jim frowned. "Plurality?"

"Yeah. I didn't know what that meant either, so I had to do some fast tap dancing to cover my ass. Got the guy who used the word to explain it to the class after someone else said 'Duh?'"

"Sneaky."

"Anyway - "

"So what does it mean?" Jim interrupted.Blai

"I was coming to that," Blair protested. "Okay. Say you're holding an election. If someone has a majority of the votes cast, they have at least one more than half of the total number, right?"

"Yes." 

"With plurality, if A has - let's keep the numbers small - 8 votes, B has 12 and C has 6, nobody has a majority, but B can still be elected because he has the most votes."

"Yeeesss... "

"It's also known as 'first past the post' or 'relative majority', where the guy elected isn't the choice of the majority, he just has more votes than any other individual candidate. Anyway, after I got home I decided to check the Free Dictionary on my laptop, and looked up 'majority'."

He fell silent, and after waiting for a moment, Jim asked, "And?"

"There were several possibilities to click on, and when I tried 'majority, sociology' what came up was a page about minorities. My search was redirected to there. Why? I wasn't wanting info on minorities, I wanted to check out majority versus plurality. It was weird."

"Maybe you need a different dictionary," Jim suggested.

"Nah, it's a good one," Blair said. "Anyway, I have it sorted out in my mind now."

"Think you'll ever need the word 'plurality' again?" Jim asked.

"I might," Blair said, "to answer a quiz or a crossword puzzle. Even apparently useless information can be valuable. Learning is never wasted."


End file.
